A record 29,013 LSD blots have been recovered in the crackdown
No, these are not cartoon stickers you can gift children in the family. They are deceptive disguises to peddle drugs.
The Narcotics Control Bureau's (NCB) has cracked down on Zambada Cartel, which it has described as the country's "biggest darknet LSD cartel". The cartel is named after notorious Mexican druglord Ismael Mario Zambada Garcia, boss of Sinaloa cartel.
According to the anti-drugs agency, Zambada cartel is the only Indian cartel rated five-stars by drug smugglers.
Following its crackdown, the NCB's Delhi branch has registered six cases and arrested 22 people allegedly associated with the nationwide supply of drugs.
A record 29,013 LSD blots have been recovered in the crackdown, along with 472 grams of MDMA and 51 lakh rupees in drug money.
The accused in the racket, the NCB said, comprised unemployed, tech-savvy youngsters.
Detailing the modus operandi, the anti-drugs agency said the key target groups of this cartel were young professionals from Delhi-NCR, Hyderabad and Bengaluru. The cartel, they said, would reach out to their targets through social media sites.
The mode of payment would be cryptocurrency and the delivery process would involve sharing wrong addresses and fake mobile numbers as a red herring.
There would be no contact whatsoever between the buyer and the seller. The blots would be concealed in cartoon posters of characters from Madagascar, Barbie, among others.
LSDs being odourless, colourless and tasteless, the blots would go undetected unless examined by experts. These blots can then be licked or swallowed by the addicts.